Meeting The Kids

14/06/2016

Today, we met the kids we'll be working with at Redgate. We observed a morning class so from about 9:30am to around 11:00am. The classes were quite short, maximum like half an hour as the kids tend to get really agitated if they're waiting or sitting for too long. This visit was really informative as me and Maisie have realised that this is going to be a lot harder than we thought. There is about 3 students I'll say that are working at low levels and are definitely less able, which means whatever ideas we come up with, we have to remember to take those students into consideration. Most of the students in our class don't really speak and a lot of them use Makaton Sign Language but I'm assuming that the staff will helps us out with that.

From observing, I've learnt that the kids are quite sensory and love to touch things and explore. The first icebreaker activity if you say, was dancing then we sat in a circle and read a book but the book had a lot of items and toys with it, which allowed the students to feel around and have fun. So, I think having those mini activities in the morning allow the kids to wind down a little bit and helps get them focused. I could tell that the kids are really used to routine and I wouldn't like to break that order so that's another thing we'll have to consider. I think keeping lessons under the half an hour limit is definitely a must as some of the students, from what I could see, were getting restless and behaviour started to come out such as being a bit violent eg- kicking, pinching, pulling etc and they started to get noisy and had to go out for a 'movement break' which is a short amount of time outside to let them calm down. The teacher did say she kept them sitting longer just so she can give us the best observation experience but they usually wouldn't sit for long.

The art activities they did today was that they watched a clip on Youtube of Tony Orrico creating live art with his body and pencils. They then did an activity where each student got the opportunity to mimic his live art by lying stomach flat on a wheeled skateboard thing and created the same style of art using coloured crayons. Choosing a colour was really important to them and this gave more of an idea of how the children work and the whole idea of routine and what they're familiar with doing each activity etc. It was really interactive and busy and I feel that's what the student accustom better to, like more active sessions/activities. This was really helpful as it gave an insight into what would work best with for the students.

So far, I'm still really looking forward to working with the students because even though they can let their behaviour come out, after watching today's class, I'm certain that the staff will most definitely be there to step in and help at any given opportunity which was really nice to see. The staff were welcoming and great to talk to, even one of them was a past student at Brit which was nice. I feel like I've built a small bond with about 2 students as one tapped me really nicely and encouraged me to join in with the reading activity in which they used props and actions to tell the story. Another student came up to me and placed his foot on my lap, asking to tie his shoelaces, he's non verbal (I think) so he speaks using sign(makaton) or through using actions. I happily tied his shoelaces and let him join his friends after. Honestly, I was so touched, I initially thought that being new faces they're not used to, might be a bit of an issue as they're quite sensitive at times, but no they were surprisingly welcoming which was really heartwarming. A student even waved goodbye! How cute.

We also got given a tour of the art department and the school seemed to be quite equipped with art supplies eg-  non toxic paint as a lot of the students tend to show things in their mouths as their cognitive developing age is from around 3 months to 2 years despite their real ages being around 7/8. This was great to see as it means we don't have to worry about supplies so much.

Overall, the visit was very eye opening and beneficial as me and Maisie both learnt a lot about our class and how they work, which will most definitely help us decide how to conduct activities and will help us come up with them. We also asked the teacher for their abilities list and what level they work at referring to art activities. She said she is more than happy to forward it via email but cannot include the names of the students due to safety reasons etc which is understandable. I definitely feel this will be a humbling experience and I'm really hoping that an amazing bond is created between our class. Maisie and I.